Chapter 84: The Fool

"What happened."

Kannin looked up at Minato for a moment, and sighed. He started to speak, but stopped himself, instead glancing at his mother quickly,

"She probably shouldn't be in the room" looking over, he said, "Sorry, mom."

Usagi sighed, and said "I-I'll go, sweetie," heading for the door, she turned around before fully exiting the room and asked, "He's going to be okay, right?"

"He'll be fine," Minato said, again more matter-of-fact than he normally seemed. He turned back to Kannin and asked again, "What happened."

Kannin waited for his mom to leave the room before writing out in the air with his index finger the name 'DANZO.' Minato's face laxed in understanding, then furrowed,

"I see," he muttered, "that's why Usagi had to leave..."

"They got me with a space-time seal fast. Didn't have time to get out." Kannin recounted, staring at the ceiling, "It was a weird seal though, it wasn't self contained; I was able to break it from the inside. It needed a constant stream of chakra to maintain, which made it quite strong, but once my heroes came to the rescue, I was able to do the rest myself."

"You couldn't take on just three of them?" Minato asked with a chuckle

"Okay," Kannin shrugged, "sorry I couldn't take on three well trained and coordinated shinobi with powerful jutsus. Plus, who gives a bunch of kids such a powerful sealing array anyways?" he asked, grinning at the Hokage, "You know, inside the seal, it felt like weeks passed. It really did a number on my mind. Altogether a bad time--but--I did make a breakthrough because of it."

"Oh yeah?" Minato said with a raised eyebrow

"Sealing me off from the natural world gave me a hard reset on sensing natural energy!"

"Natural energy?" Minato questioned, "you're trying to learn Sage Mode? That's one of the most difficult techniques out there."

"Well, up until three days ago I wasn't trying--I was failing," Kannin shrugged, "but the massive influx of natural energy after the seal broke got me over the hump. I managed a crappy version of Sage Mode for a few moments until it dissipated."

Minato's initial seriousness had turned into a sort of giddiness about Kannin's success as he excitedly asked,

"How long have you been working on it?"

"A few weeks."

"That's huge!" Minato cried hearing the time frame, "It took me over a year to get to that point!"

"You learned Senjutsu?" Kannin asked.

"Well my team leader was Konoha's Toad Sage, after all," Minato stated with pride

"Ah," Kannin recalled, "makes sense. Before I was sealed, I was completely lost on it--couldn't sense the faintest hint of natural energy--but now, now I'm feeling it a little. I think it the sealing turned a 5 year study into maybe 1 year study. Though, with your present it'll still probably take longer."

"How did it feel?" Minato asked,

"What do you mean?"

"You said you managed a crappy Sage Mode for a few moments," Minato said, "So how'd it feel?"

Kannin sat there for a moment recalling his brief stint as a Sage, before replying, "It was weird," he began, scratching his head, "I perceived the world completely differently, it was like I was looking at chakra itself. I could sense things I couldn't see, see things I couldn't sense."

"That's about how it goes," Minato said, lifting up Kannin's arms and examining them.

"What are you looking for?" Kannin asked, intrigued by Minato's medical procedure

"Petrification," he responded, moving to the chest and legs, "If you screw up absorbing natural energy you turn to stone. Since this was your first time, it's pretty likely a little part of you is made of rock now," he continued, until he examined between Kannin's toes, where he nodded his head, tilted Kannin's foot back and said, "See, petrification. Should resolve itself once all the natural energy is out of your system."

Kannin looked at the valleys between his toes and indeed saw a dark grey and cracked surface. His spirits were dampened after learning his first Sage Mode wasn't as perfect as he thought--and especially now that the bizarre sensation of petrified skin, between his toes no less, was highlighted. The awful feeling of coarse, dry, and immovable flesh between his toes was all he could focus on now.

"That feels so weird" Kannin said, squirming a little.

"Like I said," Minato chuckled, "it should clear up on its own. I'll let the doctor know you're good to go. I have to talk to Danzo now and clear all of this up."

Before Minato could leave, Kannin grabbed his arm and said, "Wait!"

Minato turned back in confusion, seeing Kannin's face contorted in a way he hadn't seen before, and asked, "What's the problem."

"He-," Kannin choked up a little before continuing, "he threatened my mom."

Minato's face hardened a little hearing it, and nodded. "I'll put a squad on her for her protection. I won't let anything happen to her, trust me."

Kannin nodded in relief before laying his head back down on the pillow, allowing Minato to leave.

-

After a nice nap, Kannin got back up and got discharged from the hospital. He took a moment to change back into his regular clothes out of the hospital gown before leaving for home.

When he did get back, his mother wasn't home, which came as a surprise to Kannin, but he didn't think too much of it, if he was correct, today was a Tuesday, and Usagi usually had lunch with some of her friends around now. Kannin was still dead tired; his legs felt like they were made of lead, and his eyelids still didn't want to stay open, but he had a few things to do before he forgot.

The first two things he did required Koseki. Grabbing the white blade from on top of his dresser, and unsheathed it. He then rolled up his left sleeve and bit his right thumb. He drew an initial summoning formula on his wrist in his blood based on Uzumaki Fuinjutsu. The formula looked a little like a starfish, lines of ink radiating outward from a center point, which was covered by a linear bar which increased in opacity as it approached his palm. He etched a similar looking final formula into the base of his blade near the guard. Once that was finished, the blood formula on his wrist faded into his skin. He flipped Koseki over to the reverse side and etched in his Flying Raijin formula in the same spot as the summoning formula.

'Now I'll never be without my trusty blade' Kannin thought, a dry smile crawling across his face